Bullying that led to suicide attempts, death at LA, Inland Empire schools could have been stopped, parents say

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Fred and Charlene Avila, parents of Rosalie Avila, who hanged herself in November, at a news conference on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 announcing legal action against school districts for bullying. (Photo by Sarah Favot/Special to the Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Three Southern California families have either filed or plan to file lawsuits against school districts from Los Angeles to the Inland Empire for negligence in allegedly failing to stop bullying that has led their three 13-year-old daughters to either attempt or commit suicide.

The parents of Rosalie Avila, 13, of Yucaipa, who hanged herself in December; the mother of another middle school student who attempted suicide by overdosing on Oxybutynin pills; and the grandmother of a seventh-grader who attempted suicide by swallowing a cup of bleach, attended a news conference Tuesday, May 15, outside Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters.

“Bullying in schools, not only in Southern California but nationwide, is like a ticking time bomb and when school districts fail to protect these kids who are bullied, that time bomb explodes and then we have kids killing themselves and attempting suicide,” said Brian Claypool, an attorney for the families.

Rosalie Avila (Courtesy photo)

The families criticized how L.A. Unified, San Bernardino City Unified and Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified school districts responded to their complaints about bullying. They called for new legislation to create stricter guidelines for school districts to respond to bullying.

California law defines bullying as “any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct.” State law requires that school districts investigate and respond to all complaints of bullying and intervene if any acts of bullying are witnessed by staff.

Sandra Ortega’s daughter, who attended Arrowview Middle School in the San Bernadino City Unified School District, attempted suicide after months of bullying that involved physical assault and verbal abuse, the family said. Claypool said the bullies called her names , locked her in the school bathroom, spit on her, and tried to pick fights with her.

On Jan. 9, a group of 16 bullies came to the Ortega home and began taunting the 13-year-old, Ortega said. The girl took the pills from the bathroom, went into her bedroom and ingested them. She was hospitalized and suffered from hallucinations and thrashing in the hospital, according to a medical record provided by Claypool.

“It’s very hard to see your daughter like that,” Ortega said. Ortega said she has complained to the school district since September. Ortega also contacted the school police. She said school officials did change her daughter’s schedule so that she didn’t share the same lunch period with the bullies, but that was not enough.

After the attempted suicide, Ortega took her daughter out of Arrowview and she now attends another school, but the problem has not gone away because the bullies live in her neighborhood, a neighbor said.

Claypool filed a lawsuit against the district Monday on behalf of the family. The San Bernardino City Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the district tweeted out a message on Tuesday:

“SBCUSD is committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and nurturing learning environment for all. With this in mind, it is important that adults recognize potential signs that a child is being bullied as well as a child who is potentially bullying others,” the tweet said.

SBCUSD is committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and nurturing learning environment for all. With this in mind, it is important that adults recognize potential signs that a child is being bullied as well as a child who is potentially bullying others. https://t.co/d9f6h2OBAJpic.twitter.com/2Ec8etKPEF

The other 13-year-old who attempted suicide attended Endeavor College Preparatory Charter School in Los Angeles.

The girl was subjected to ongoing bullying that involved verbal abuse, like name-calling and taunting, Claypool said. The bullies told her that she should hang herself like Avila because nobody cared about her, said her grandmother, who did not want to be identified.

After the girl became depressed, her grandmother sent her to see a psychiatrist and a therapist. The therapist contacted the school with concern about the girl’s well-being. The grandmother said school officials moved her granddaughter’s seat in class, but did not switch her schedule.

The girl is still experiencing effects of swallowing bleach, her grandmother said.

“She’s still traumatized and scared to go to school,” the grandmother said. The girl left the school and does independent study at home.

Claypool said he filed a claim against L.A. Unified last week with plans to file a lawsuit. The school is an independent campus, but LAUSD authorizes its charter.

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“While we take these situations very seriously, we cannot comment on student matters or on-going litigation,” a district spokeswoman said in an email.

The Avila family, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this month against the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, is working with Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, D-San Bernardino, to enact legislation called “Rosie’s Law” to better protect victims of bullying, the family said.

Claypool outlined the changes that the families want to see.

They include having more than one person investigate bullying, documenting every complaint of bullying and providing the victim’s family with results of the investigation, and requiring bullies to receive mandated rehabilitative counseling.

“Every time I see somebody else suffering from bullying it just opens up a fresh wound in our lives,” said Fred Avila, Rosalie’s father. “Every day is a hard day without my daughter Rosalie. She’s such a beautiful, kind person.”

Fred Avila said the family was supposed to meet with the school principal about the bullying, which went on for two years, the day before his daughter committed suicide. Rosalie didn’t want to face her bully during the meeting.

Through Rosie’s Law, the Ortegas hope to enact a guideline that bully and the victim are interviewed separately during an investigation.

“Whatever we have in place right now is not working. We have to do something new,” Avila said.

Sarah Favot is an award-winning Los Angeles-based freelance writer. Most recently she was a data and investigative reporter at L.A. School Report, a non-profit education news website. Prior to that she was a staff writer for the L.A. Daily News covering county government. She is Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of The Society of Professional Journalists.